"A Disturbance In The Force..."

Anyone notice a tremor, a rumbling, a general sense of unease running through the land about 8:30 EST tonight? Wonder what it was all about?

Well, wonder no longer. A vintage “Lady Lionel” train set, yes the infamous “Girls Train” showed up on “Antiques Roadshow” this evening! That disturbance in “The Force” was Lady Firestorm’s reaction, she HATES the sight of the thing!

“What girl in her right mind would have wanted one of those things? If a girl wants a train she wants one that looks like a REAL one, not an Easter Egg!”

And that was the mildest thing she said!

Oh well. By the way, the appraiser pegged it at $2,000 in case anyone’s interested. New and in the original box too!

The information the appraiser gave on the girls set and Lionel was wrong on every point. The set was boxed, but it could not have been new. The owner talked about giving her pets rides in the cars.

I have no idea what an original Postwar Lionel girls set is worth these days.

I had one years ago, but it was dirty, and I did not want to try to clean it. So out it went. I don’t miss it.

[(-D]If you had said Thursday night, I would have been a little freaked out by Lady Firestorm! We actually had a 4ish Magnitude earthquake near Detroit around 8 pm.

Becky - What are your thoughts on the “Girls” train?

Rob

Mr. Burfle, you’re correct, I forgot about the owner saying she’d given her pets rides in the cars. Mind you, I was running for cover at the time.

The set was in beautiful shape though, just about as new from what I could see, it was well taken care of.

And I don’t know, Noel Barrett is the “Toy Guy” on “Roadshow.” He may be right, he may be wrong, but it is his business.

And I don’t know, Noel Barrett is the “Toy Guy” on “Roadshow.” He may be right, he may be wrong, but it is his business.

He may be the “Toy Guy” but he is a generalist.
I notice he usually doesn’t do dolls. They are toys too.

OK, fair enough. I will say I’ve seen some things on “Roadshow” I do know something about and have disagreed with the appraisals, but hey, the show’s fun to watch anyway, right?

Absolutely.
We record it every week and watch it.

As far as appraisels go, I’ve experienced the same feeling while watching antiques road show and any of the “treasure hunting” shows like Pawn Stars and Storage wars. They often over estimate the value of items with which I am familar.

[:P][+o(][:S][^o)][:#][*-)][N][xx(][#dots]

Oh wow, disgusted beyond words. That says a lot.

Kind of like one Thanksgiving we were at Lady Firestorm’s sister’s house. I was reading an issue of CTT and there was a “Lady Lionel” pictured in it. Well, Lady F had her usual reaction, so her sister Pat and her daughters Stephanie and Janine came running to see what the commotion was about.

My God, the look of horror on their faces when they saw the “Girl’s Train” was priceless! I thought I’d split a gut laughing!

And they’re not even into O gauge toy trains! Although I have tried…

The girls DID have a pretty big “Thomas The Tank Engine” collection as children though.

[quote user=“Penny Trains”]

robmcc
Becky - What are your thoughts on the “Girls” train?

[(-D] I figured as much, but had to ask anyways!!

[quote user=“Firelock76”

Oh well. By the way, the appraiser pegged it at $2,000 in case anyone’s interested. New and in the original box too!

They had a reproduction for sale at one of our local train stores a few years back. They wanted around $500 for the reproduction.

I actually kinda like it !

[:-^]But I kinda like it around $250…
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Aside from filling a hole in a post-war collection I can’t see why anyone would want one, but if you “…kinda like it…” who am I to question you? If you see one for $250, go for it!

I just don’t dare bring one home to the “Fortress Firelock!”

I have one. I like it! Not my favorite, but a cool addition to my stuff!

Those pastel colored freight cars are pleasing to the eye …

Yes, I like it.

So there !

Hey, I can understand. I kinda like this monstrosity from the 1930’s…

www.american-rails.com/green-diamond.html

So butt-ugly it’s classic! If someone comes out with an affordable O gauge version I might just go for it!

Michael, Paul, keep your voices down, you might have an earthquake…

my little girl has the K line reproduction. it is a fine set and we run it every Thanksgiving through Christmas. a Lionel original sealed in the Box sold for $30,000 some years back. So there!

You’re asking for an earthquake too. You guys better be careful.

She’s already mad enough I beat her at the Reader’s Digest “Word Power” game.

Hey, she gets mad if she only scores a lousy 14 out of 15 at the thing!

I have the hopper car. No one has ever noticed it. Unless you are told that it is “lilac”, you would take it for gray.

Flyer did have “a train” labeled as the IC Green Diamond:

But the Pride Lines version was much closer:

Well thanks for that Becky!

I’ve seen those American Flyers at train and antique shows, but they’re a little to “tinny” for my taste.

Now that Pride Lines Green Diamond (Back in the 30’s folks along the IC main line called it “The Tomato Worm”) looks interesting.

So I did a little research, found Graham’s Trains, looked at the Green Diamond set price, then had my “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Looks like I’m going to have to be very patient before I can get one of those things.

Hey, I waited ten years before I found a Lionel Bicentennial set at a price I could live with. I can wait for a “Tomato Worm” just as well!

In the meantime, we’ll just have to live a little vicariously and enjoy the set this guy owns…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmnwL5Ds4g

Wayne